Australian Open 2013 Fearless Forecast: Women's Top Lower Draw

I have to really hand it to Serena.  Having played really well in 2012, she decides to have a warm up tournament in the start of 2013 as preparations for the Australian Open, and she promptly wins the Brisbane Open title.  She really means business!  And, well, she's still my pick to win this year's Australian Open title - which is going to be her sixth.

She has some notable opponents in this side of the draw which could include Magdalena Rybarikova, Yaroslava Shvedova, Maria Kirilenko, and Petra Kvitova. If it were another player and not Serena, this may have been a difficult draw.  But from the looks of it, Serena looks ready to rumble and should get the semifinalist slot of her part of the draw.   Yanina Wickmayer and Nadia Petrova are also in this draw and both could find themselves facing Serena too, so it's really a pretty crowded draw, with only Serena having that major ascendancy over everyone.